Rates rise at weekly auction of US Treasury bills

WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Monday's auction to their highest levels in three weeks.

The Treasury Department auctioned $30 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.020 percent, up from 0.010 percent last week. Another $25 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.050 percent, up from 0.030 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the highest since three-month bills averaged 0.030 percent on Sept. 3. The six-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.055, also on Sept. 3.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,999.49, while a six-month bill sold for $9,997.47. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.020 percent for the three-month bills and 0.051 percent for the six-month bills.

Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, edged down to 0.11 percent last week from 0.13 percent the previous week.